Saturday, March 04, 2006

"Dramatic new evidence about the close relationship between ministers and some of the most senior figures in US gambling, who were planning to build Las Vegas-style super casinos across Britain, can be revealed today.

Documents obtained by The Observer reveal how the Department for Culture, Media and Sport pressed the Treasury to change rules on money laundering to help US gambling corporations. They also show that ministers and department officials held meetings with senior casino officials behind closed doors in Las Vegas, South Africa and France as well as the UK.

The disclosures raise serious questions about statements denying any move on money laundering given to the Commons by the Culture Secretary, Tessa Jowell. The Conservatives have accused Jowell of misleading parliament and have written to her demanding an explanation.

In the Commons last November, Jowell dismissed Tory claims that her department had been in any discussions with casino groups about money laundering laws.

Two days later, during Prime Minister's Questions, Michael Howard pressed Tony Blair over the issue. The Prime Minister said claims that casinos had been offered special concessions were 'ridiculous'.

The Observer has obtained a briefing note sent in May 2004 from culture department official Richard Beston to culture minister Lord McIntosh, who was in charge of the bill. This reveals that discussions about easing the rules on money laundering did take place between ministers and casino bosses and that Jowell's department tried to get the Treasury to give casino groups special exemptions.

The note, released under the Freedom of Information Act, was sent ahead of a meeting with MGM's European boss, Lloyd Nathan, at the House of Lords.

etc., etc.,

Curiously the Sunday Times reported in October 2005 that Mr Nathan met Lord Levy, major Labour fund raiser. Which is not surprrsing as Mr Nathan;s son is a friend of Lord Levy's son. It just shows what a small world it is when you start mixing csino owners, Labour MP's and peers.

There is also some tosh about Jowell also having a drink problem , paying off the drinks industry with 24 hour drinking to compensate for the smoking ban in public places.... what nonsense !

.... and swinging parties at the Warwickshire party palace ... phooooey no truth whatsoever.

"I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office in foreign-policy matters with war on my mind."

"Intelligence is a vital part of fighting and winning the war against the terrorists. It is — because the war against terrorists is a war against individuals who hide in caves in remote parts of the world ....."

The US government has charged Muhammed Salah a used car dealer from suburban Bridgeview, with supporting terrorism, largely based on confessions he made in Israel in 1993. In a federal court hearing Friday, Salah contended he was tortured into confessing.

Salah is free on bond and left court Friday afternoon following a several hour hearing to determine whether the signed confession from 1993 will be allowed as evidence during his trial this October.

"We are not going to allow this kind of evidence. We have a Constitution, we have a Bill of Rights, we have a sense of fairness. That is what we're going to focus on," said Robert Bloom, Salah's lawyer.

Late Friday afternoon (3rd March) Judge St. Eve announced that the Salah confession hearing will go forward on Monday, with secret testimony by two Israeli Police who interrogated Salah back in 1993.

When Salah returns to court on Monday, some of the Israeli police who questioned him for 53 days will not be seen. They will be allowed to testify in a closed courtroom. They will be asked about the Shabak technique, which was widely used and accepted by Israeli police, including the hooded detainment of suspected Hamas members, the short-legged kindergarten chair that suspects would be handcuffed to, the kicking and beating across the groin and chest, and what was known as the painful frog crouch.

Many times the Shabak technique would continue for days or weeks.

"Israel's GSS interrogators have tortured thousands of detainees intentionally inflicting severe pain and suffering," said Ali Abunimah, Arab-American Action Network. "The United States government has chosen to make secret evidence of Israeli and evidence of torture of Mr. Salah. We think it's a very serious program particularly since the Bush administration continues to engage in torture and tries to keep it secret around the world," said Steven Saltzman, Center for Constitutional Rights.

More at Chicago7 TV here Curiously the rest of the US media are silent on this matter.... although at one time there was some excitement that Judith Miller witnessed the interrogations of Salah (arranged by Mr Itzhak Rabin) ... but that would be a gross and heinous libel. See more at Huffington Post Sept 2005 here

George left India where he had enjoyed conferring Non signing status of the Nuclear NOn Proliferation Treaty on his new found ally - to put them on a par with Israel.

George went on to see his old chum General Musharraf, President of the Muslim Republic of Pakistan, for a few tips. Remember how on August 21st 2002 the General (whose name Dubya had famously been ignorant of) unilaterally redrew Pakistan's Constitution all by himself. He adopted 29 amendments (Legal Framework Order, 2002 [Chief Executive's Order No. 24 of 2002]) that greatly expanded the powers he acquired when he enjoyed the fruits of a 1999 military coup and became the leader of Pakistan. (On October 12, 1999, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was simply removed from power by the Armed Forces led by General Pervez Musharraf.)

One of those 29 amendments allowed him to make further amendments any time he wants. In addition, he gave himself the power to dissolve the elected Parliament and to appoint the country's military chiefs and Supreme Court Justices. He also allotted some seats on a newly created National Security Council to the military. He explicitly stated that the Parliament that will be elected will not have the power to repeal the constitutional amendments he adopted. Describing the changes, he said: "This is part of the Constitution. I am hereby making it part of the Constitution."

On December 31, 2003: The Seventeenth Amendment Bill incorporated these changes into the Constutution by parliamentary approval.

To be precise it reads ...

(1) The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, referred to in this Order as the Constitution, is hereby amended to the extent and in the manner specified in column (3) of the Schedule.

2) If there is any necessity for any further amendment of the Constitution or any difficulty arises in giving effect to any of the provisions of this Order, the Chief Executive may make such provisions and pass or promulgate such orders for amending the Constitution or for removing any difficulty as he may deem fit.

(3) The validity of any provision made, or orders passed, under clauses (1) and (2) shall not be called in question in any court on any ground whatsoever.

George is getting there .... not too far to go now. Sneh Sneh ... these sand niggers got a few tricks up their sleeves ... must have a word with Alberto.

Friday, March 03, 2006

Automotive supplier Dana Corp., whose shares have lost more than half their value during the past two sessions, threw its U.S. operations into voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday, conceding that they were no longer able to meet financial commitments.

Delphi the other major supplier to both GM and Ford are already in Ch 11. Dana supplied some 40% of their sales to GM / Ford.

How long before GM seek Ch 11 ?

Get ready for an interesting article here on the Berry amendment and it's effect on DOD suppliers .... you should already be up to speed on PAN carbon fibre production.

"Federal officials, one after another, falsely proclaimed this week that the destruction by Hurricane Katrina was “unprecedented” and “unexpected”. These assertions have been called into question by many. What is known for sure is that the incompetence of the federal government’s planning and response is what is unprecedented. As I stated earlier on this blog, I have known about the potential dangers of the New Orleans levee system for over 25 years. If I knew about these dangers, why didn’t the President, the head of Homeland Security, or certainly the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency know?"

Steven Smith is a scientist working in Italy. He has contributed an essay to the University of Indiana which is published here about Signor Berlusconi, the man who lends his villas out to Tony Blair - who is represented by a cunt like David Mills, who in an application to practise in the United Arab Emirates, sent four months ago, he tried to reassure financial authorities they had no reason to worry about the ongoing investigation in Italy.

The letter ( to the Dubair Finanacial Services Authority ) reads: "You will know that I'm married to a minister in the government of this country and that in itself has caused a great deal of unwelcome publicity about this case.

"But I also want you to know, I have a lot of support and sympathy from very many people in public life, from the prime minister down."

To those interested in the lives of apologists for Signor Berlusconi, such as David Mills might read Mr Smith's article with interest and profit.

Newsweek have an interview with Signor Berlusconi who visited the US this week. Apparently when he compared himself to Christ it was due to a misunderstanding.

Channel 4 has a site for "The IT Crowd" their late night weirdness about the dysfunctional young in our society condemned to sysadmin.

If you relate, here are some jokes for you ...

-- Remember, only two industries refer to their customers as users.

-- There are only 10 kinds of people, those who understand binary, and those who don't.

"The familiar dot (.) symbol from Internet addresses shall be used on this website to denote the end of a sentence."

"The future is already here, it just isn't evenly distributed."

"When the customer demands the impossible, they will end up buying from the guy who offers them the impossible. And the results, though tragic, are sadly predictable." (Robert A. Heinlien)

"Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning." (Rich Cook)

All models are wrong; Some are useful.

For every complex problem, there exists a simple solution, which is wrong.

"The last 10% of any software project will take 90% of the budgeted time. The first 90% will take the other 90%"

On two occasions I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able rightly to apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question. - Charles Babbage

"The most successful method of programming is to begin a program as simply as possible, test it, and then add to the program until it performs the required job."-- The PDP-8/e Small Computer Handbook (DEC, 1972) - Chapter 9, Page 9-64

The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That's where we come in; we're computer professionals. We cause accidents. -- Nathaniel Borenstein

The primary purpose of the DATA statement is to give names to constants; instead of referring to pi as 3.141592653589793 at every appearance, the variable PI can be given that value with a DATA statement and used instead of the longer form of the constant. This also simplifies modifying the program, should the value of pi change. -- FORTRAN manual for Xerox Computers

"There are two ways of constructing a software design; one way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." -- C. A. R. Hoare

A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. (John Gall)

Working software is the primary measure of progress. (The Agile Manifesto)

In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is.

"An unplanned project takes twice as long to complete, a well planned project takes three times as long."

Computers let you make more mistakes than any other invention in history....with the possible exception of handguns and tequila.

"Two things have come out of Berkley, Unix and Acid, we do not belive this to be a coincidence

"Programming is the process of converting caffeine into error messages"

Always code as if the person who ends up maintaining your code will be a violent psychopath who knows where you live.

If Java had true garbage collection, most programs would delete themselves upon execution.

Linux sucks twice as fast and 10 times more reliably, and since you have the source, it's your fault. -Ca1v1n

Go to the IT Crowd website (if you have reached this far ...) and you can watch how true all the above lines are.

In Heller's Catch 22 , Milo Minderbender is the entrepreneur of the company who swaps the airmen's parachutes for share certificates and then sells them on to whoever will have them, "for the good of the country". Milo goes about setting up M&M enterprises who's defining moment comes when they bomb there own Airfield in order to save planes and time and to get rid of some much hated cotton which he has accumulated.

Mulling over the assonance of Catch 22 for the fate of tortured prisoners at Guantanamo Bay (see below) I was struck by the role of David Mill's the unwiped, bemerded arsehole who is married to the lying fuckwit privy Counsellor, Tessa "Amnesia Freelove" Jowell who is responsible for the money pit on the Thames which will (allegedly) house the 2013 Olympics.

Leaving his home in his glossy but well frosted Beamer yesterday he removed his wing mirror on a reporters open car door.

"Who will pay for that ?" shouted the irate and deeply unpleasant lawyer - evidently used to others picking up the tab for his stupidity.

The Washington Post today reports that Bush administration lawyers, say detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, cannot use legislation drafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to challenge treatment that the detainee's lawyers described as "systematic torture.They have successfully argued that the new law that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody does not apply to people held at the military prison.

In court filings, the Justice Department lawyers argued that language in the law written by Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) gives Guantanamo Bay detainees access to the courts only to appeal their enemy combatant status determinations and convictions by military commissions.

"Unfortunately, I think the government's right; it's a correct reading of the law," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "The law says you can't torture detainees at Guantanamo, but it also says you can't enforce that law in the courts."

Thomas Wilner, a lawyer representing several detainees at Guantanamo, agreed that the law cannot be enforced. "This is what Guantanamo was about to begin with, a place to keep detainees out of the U.S. precisely so they can say they can't go to court," Wilner said.

Tessa Jowell Uk Minister for Circuses , is reported by Reuters to have said on USD$600,000 loan AKA Gift her husband didn't tell her about for 4 years and used to pay off a mortgage for £408,000 on the family home....

"However, I fully accept my husband should have informed me and if he had, I would of course have reported it,"

Vice President Deadeye Dick won't be shooting any Quail (or lawyers) this weekend , he's going to be at the Washington DC Convention centre for the AIPAC Annual Conference ( Policy Review) which he will be addressing on Tuesday along with Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Steny Hoyer(D - Md) and Ron Blunt (R.- Mo.) about the US-Israel Special relationship.

"At a time of unprecedented challenge and opportunity for America's ally in the Middle East, the deep and abiding support for Israel in all quarters of American society is truly exemplified by this year's conference," said AIPAC President Bernice Manocherian. "Support for Israel is not a Democratic value or a Republican value, it is an American value," she said.

They kick off proceedings on Sunday (after the Israeli national anthem (which they didn't sing last year because of the impending charges against AIPAC spies being caught - who are now in trial) "Global Challenge: How the International Community Can Stop Iran"

-- Ambassador John R. Bolton, United States Permanent Representative to the United Nations

For those interested Judge T.S. Ellis ruled Monday in the case against former American Israel Public Affairs Committee employees Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, against the request of the Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy. That group wanted to file a brief arguing that AIPAC operates as a quasi-intelligence organization that infiltrates Congress and the White House. .... don't expect any public discussion of the case at the Conference.

You can read about the murder of Rachel Corrie by the Israeli state here .The Play “My Name Is Rachel Corrie”, Directed In London By Actor Alan Rickman and Due To Open In New York City In March, Has Been Cancelled For Fear Of Controversy The Theatre Workshop Cited The Election Of Hamas In Palestine, Ariel Sharon’s Medical Condition And The Furor Over The Danish Cartoons As Reasons For Refusing To Stage The Play. More here

"My Name is Rachel Corrie" was written by Rickman and an editor of The Guardian newspaper of London, Katharine Viner.

The play is based on diary entries and e-mails by Corrie, a political activist from Olympia (Nr Seattle) who died in 2003 in a refugee camp near the Egyptian border while protesting Israel's demolition of Palestinian homes there.

Alan Rickman told The Guradian that the New York Theatre Workshop's decision was an act of "censorship born out of fear." New York Theatre Workshop director Jim Nicola said the play, which his company had not formerly announced it would present, is being postponed due to the current "very edgy" political situation in Israel.

"Daughter Courage," a different play about Corrie by the Vermont troupe Bread and Puppet Theater, will play at Seattle's Consolidated Works arts center March 8-11.

You can e-mail the The Theater Director with a message of support at: LynnM@nytw.org

If you want to see what the thinking voice of the Republ.ican party think about it you can visit the Free Republic site here and also here

Sample Posts ...

Worthless traitor bitch.

The(y) couldn't find an actress flat-chested enough for the part.

Murdered? I call that a Darwin award nominee.

I, on the other, think that Rachel Corrie got what she deserved. She was protecting a smuggling tunnel for terrorist's arms. I WISH the bulldozer had run over her deliberately, but these days the good guys are too squeamis to do what must be done.

And how far did that bulldozer have to chase her before finally running her down?

She wasn't murdered, she committed suicide and the world is a btter place for it. She was the epitome of evil as she taught children to hate.

Can I go and cheer for the bulldozer?

She was so freaking dumb that her mind which had been rotted by drugs and Evergreen University campus ideology could not comprehend that she would be in danger standing hidden infront of a 30 ton machine.

Evidently the still, quiet voice of reason at work there then. You can of course turn to the AIPAC site and read of the passage of the Foreign Aid Bill 4th Jan 2005

Both the House of Representatives and Senate have overwhelmingly approved the fiscal year 2006 foreign aid bill, which includes $2.52 billion in economic and military assistance to Israel. By votes of 358-39 and 91-0, respectively, both chambers demonstrated the United States' unshak(e)able commitment to Israel's security by approving this critical assistance.

Global demand for poly acryloniytrile (PAN) carbon fiber is estimated at 25,000 tons. Demand will grow to 40,000 tons by 2010. It's characteristics of lightness and strength will determine the succes of the new generation of passenger airliners the Boeing 787 and the Airbus 380.

Three Japanese companies, Toray Industries Inc., Toho Tenax Co. and Mitsubishi Rayon Co. together control about 70 percent of the global market for carbon fibre.Current uptake is in the region of 26,000 tons and will grow to 40,000 tons by 2010.The fibre is increasingly in use in the blades of wind driven electricity turbines.

Industry leader Toray, with 30% of world production, is the principal supplier of Torayca* fibre for Boeing Co.'s B787 Dreamliner passenger aircraft which will require about 30 tons of carbon fibre per aircraft (the Boeing 777 uses Toray fibre).The company opened the worlds biggest facility in Decatur, Alabama in 1999 which recently introduced a new line to double capacity to 1,800 tons per year.

By volume, carbon fiber composite materials account for about 50 percent of the B787,including the fuselage and main wings. Toray is adding new production lines on its 860,000-square-meter factory in Masaki, Ehime Prefecture to meet this demand.

In total the company is investing about 25 billion yen on three production lines, two for carbon fiber and the other for sheet products to increase capacity to 13,000 tons per annum from current 9,000 tons.

Toho Tenax, (part of the Teijin Group) the next biggest supplier is running its factory in Nagaizumi, Shizuoka Prefecture, at full capacity to produce carbon fiber mainly for Airbus SAS's A380 super-jumbo jet, which is scheduled to start commercial flights this year.

The company is expanding its factories in the United States(Rockwood TN) and Germany to raise its annual group production capacity to 7,800 tons in September, up from the current 5,600 tons.

Mitsubishi Rayon the third major world supplier is also spending 8 Billion Yen to add capacity at its factory in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, and its plants in the United States (Grafil Inc. Sacramento CA) and France and wants to boost production to 8,000 tons up from 5,000 tons.

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

The Rt. Hon. Tessa Jowell ( that means she was made a Privy Councillor (in 1998)) and David Mills married in 1979 and bought their house in Kentish Town, N. London, .... cash.

On Sept 27, 2000, the couple took out a mortgage on the property with S G Hambros Bank and Trust Ltd.

They paid off this mortgage of £408,000 on December 1, 2000.(9 weeks later). It would be entirely improper to suggest that, though this is a method used to launder funds, that this was the reason for this short term loan secured on the couple's house.

The Home Office in a statement it said: "In late 2004, the Serious Fraud Office received a request from the Milan Prosecutor for legal advice about the circumstances in which David Mills could be extradited under UK law, based upon possible charges against him."

"The request was passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, who took legal advice which was passed by the Home Office to the Italian Embassy in May 2005, since extradition requests are normally handled on diplomatic channels.

Blair makes masonic signal to Berlusconi.

Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, is quoted in the Times Online saying: "The allegations of the Italian prosecution are completely untrue.

"The fact is that there is a well established extradition procedure which operates with Italy as with other countries and we would follow all normal procedures.

"No request for extradition has come from Italy at this stage and hasn’t done at any previous stage - but the fact is that the allegations that we’ve been in any sense un-co-operative are completely false."

Dame Barbara Mills, DBE, QC is The Adjudicator for the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise, having been from 1992 to 1998, the Director of Public Prosecutions. As Director of the Serious Fraud Office Dame Barbara dealt with the BCCI case. In 1986 she was a DTI inspector under the Financial Services Act and has been a member of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, a Legal Assessor to the General Medical Council and a member of the Parole Board amongst others. She is David Mills's sister in law.

It would be outrageous and improper, a scandalum magnatum, to suggest that such family ties would in any way affect the conduct of inter governmental affairs.

It is not in our power to stop Bush's visit. It is in our power to protest it, and we will. The government, the police and the corporate press will do everything they can to minimize the extent of our outrage. Nothing the happy newspapers say can change the fact that all over India, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages, in public places and private homes, George W. Bush, the President of the United States of America, world nightmare incarnate, is just not welcome.

On May 31, 2003 Roy spoke at a national antiwar teach-in in Washington, D.C., sponsored by United for Peace and Justice. Counterpunch printed her speech.

When the United States invaded Iraq, a New York Times/CBS News survey estimated that 42 percent of the American public believed that Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. And an ABC news poll said that 55 percent of Americans believed that Saddam Hussein directly supported al-Qaeda. None of this opinion is based on evidence (because there isn't any). All of it is based on insinuation, auto-suggestion and outright lies circulated by the U.S. corporate media. Public support in the U.S. for the war against Iraq was founded on a multi-tiered edifice of falsehood and deceit, coordinated by the U.S. government and faithfully amplified by the press. etc etc .,

One of the most potent, fluent voices against the illegal invasion of Iraq, before, during and since ....

Le Moyne College/Zogby Poll shows just one in five troops want to heed Bush call to stay “as long as they are needed”* While 58% say mission is clear, 42% say U.S. role is hazy* Plurality believes Iraqi insurgents are mostly homegrown* Almost 90% think war is retaliation for Saddam’s role in 9/11, most don’t blame Iraqi public for insurgent attacks* Majority of troops oppose use of harsh prisoner interrogation* Plurality of troops pleased with their armor and equipment

An overwhelming majority of 72% of American troops serving in Iraq think the U.S. should exit the country within the next year, and nearly one in four say the troops should leave immediately, a new Le Moyne College/Zogby International survey shows.

Click on link for detailed analysis ...... any rational person would put these results on a level with those polls in women's magazines .."What do you look for in a fella ?"

How can these honest, proud, decent guys (and gals), fighting the Long War on Terrarism, bringing Democracy to the Stupid IslamoFascists .... be so dumb ?

Monday, February 27, 2006

On Friday afternoon in Eastern Saudi Arabia, two car bombs were detonated in an attempt to cripple the world’s largest oil processing center, the ARAMCO complex in Abqaiq (also known as Buqayq). The attempt largely failed in its primary mission, but also largely succeeded in its secondary mission, which is more and more becoming recognized as a form of information warfare via the world’s media outlets.......

New Documents Provide Further Evidence That Senior Officials Approved Abuse of Prisoners at Guantánamo (2/23/2006)

The American Civil Liberties Union have done a terrific job in obtaining a batch of documents under the Freedom of Information Act which have received scant attention in the mainstream press. You can view copies here ... although many have "redactions" - that's fucking lawyer talk for covering up / concealing.

....Still other documents released today by the ACLU provide FBI agents’ descriptions of interrogations they witnessed at Guantánamo. One such document states: “Last evening I went to observe an interview of REDACTED with REDACTED. The adjoining room, observable from the monitoring booth, was occupied by 2 DHS investigators showing a detainee homosexual porn movies and using a strobe light in the room. We moved our interview to a different room. We’ve heard that DHS interrogators routinely identify themselves as FBI agents and then interrogate a detainee for 16-18 hours using tactics as described above and others (wrapping in Israeli flag, constant loud music, cranking the A/C down, etc.) The next time a real Agent tries to talk to that guy, you can imagine the result.”

Wrapping them in an Israeli flag ? Why, that's done by many of these evil fucking bastards in the US Administration every day of the week

Rummy's "long war" on terror took on a radically new meaning this weekend.

A powdery substance found in a roll of quarters by a University of Texas student on Thursday while doing laundry in her dormitory is not the deadly toxin ricin, FBI officials said Sunday.

FBI agents took custody of the sample Saturday and sent it to the Interagency Biomedical Research Confederation Fort Detrick, Md., Within a day, scientists at the Army base determined it was not ricin or any other dangerous material.

So if ricin was a problem (which it isn't as it is only lethal if enjected in a very pure form) the field testing procedures are crap and it would take three days to find out if it was ricin ... curiously Fort Detrick have declined to say what the powder was .... Colombian marching powder anybody ?

Google News has 773 hits for this story .... Ricin ... deadly ... lethal ... we are all going to die !!!!

It is generally accepted that American Airlines Flight 77 did not fly into the Pentagon on 11th September 2001. Details of the passengers who have been identified by DNA can be found here.

Leslie a. Whittington, 45, of University Park, Md., was a professor at Georgetown University in Washington.

Whittington, her husband, Charles S. Falkenberg, and two daughters were leaving for a trip to Australia when American Flight 77 is supposed to have crashed into the Pentagon. They mailed postcards to family members from Dulles International Airport. Those postcards arrived, but no details are available on the web.

George and Ruth Koch are the parents of Ruth their 45-year-old daughter....During an interview with their local paper in 2004, Koch delicately handled eerie mementos of the crash found during cleanup: Whittington's battered driver's license. One granddaughters' luggage tag.

...... a burnt luggage tag and a wedding ring lie on a book dedicated to those lost in the events of Sept. 11, 2001. The wedding ring belonged to Ruth's daughter and the luggage tag belonged to one her granddaughters.... says the caption to the photo in the paper.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

The Austin Statesman reports a mysterious whitish-brown powder found in a roll of quarters in a dormitory room on the University of Texas campus might not be the poison ricin after all.

A preliminary test by the Texas Department of State Health Services laboratory in Austin returned a positive result for the potentially fatal substance, prompting an evacuation of the Moore-Hill residence hall, an investigation by the FBI and worries of a link to terrorism.

Students were allowed to return to the Moore-Hill residence hall after two cleanings of affected areas, but the UT dorm was abuzz with activity Saturday as the investigation continued. UT police officer Adrian Slaymaker stands watch.

But three subsequent tests at the same lab came up negative.

In addition, none of the people who might have been exposed — including the student with the quarters, her mother, her roommate and their residence hall assistant — has symptoms of ricin poisoning. The symptoms, which typically include breathing difficulty, cough, fever, nausea and tightess in the chest, usually develop within hours of exposure, health officials said.

"I'm pretty confident it's not ricin," Mike Elliott, senior district commander for Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services, said Saturday. "The state lab tends to be more presumptive in telling you what it might be."

The FBI called in specialists in weapons of mass destruction from Quantico, Va.,also called in were ... the Joint Terrorism Task Force .... on Saturday, local hazardous materials crews took apart washing machines at the dorm to see if they could find any additional powder....

You can begin to understand how difficult it was investigating 9/11.... good job they shipped all the evidence to a chinese scrapyard ... save all that stupid forensic nonsense.

Sheryl Crow one of the finest singer / songwriters performing today, underwent surgery for breast cancer earlier this week and the good news is the prognosis for a full recovery is excellent.

In a statement on her Web site, Crow said she would have to postpone a North American concert tour that was scheduled to begin in March. She said she hoped to reschedule the dates as soon as possible.

Crow called the surgery "minimally invasive" and said she will be undergoing radiation treatment as a precaution. She said she benefited from early detection, and urged other women to have themselves checked.

Crow, 43, and Armstrong, 34, announced earlier this month they were splitting up. It would have been the Grammy-winning rock star's first marriage and the second for Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France cycling champion. Crow said her most recent album, the Grammy-nominated "Wildflower," was inspired by their relationship.

She grew up in Kennett, Mo., and sang in the local choir.She worked as a music teacher and backup singer, including some time with Michael Jackson, she broke as a solo act with the 1993 multi-platinum recording "Tuesday Night Music Club." She also appeared with the Stones on their "40 Licks tour" and album.

A Revolutionary Act re-visits the London bombings on 7/7. Charles Clarke, an overweight Cambridge mathematician who doubles as Home Secretary, and has all the personality of a "I speak your weight machine" says we are to be treated to a Civil Servant written "Timeline" of events on that fateful day last year.

Nothing has changed that view ... everyone should review everything that has been written ready to rubbish the concoction of lies, untruths, fictions and general bullshit any such "official" explanation will contain. It is essential that a well informed public take the publication of this "Timeline" immediately.

Get ready NOW. By the way if you know where Nadeem Fiez is, let me know. It would be interesting to ask him about the time he spent with PC Plod for 48 hours in Paddington Green Police Station. Pic ... the "Trial run" note the date.